Creating the Countryside: The Politics of Rural and Environmental Discourse (Conflicts in Urban and Regional Development)

What does it mean to save nature and rural life? Do people know what they are trying to save and what they mean by "save"? As the answers to these questions become more and more unclear, so, too do the concepts of "environment," "wilderness," and "country." From the abuse of the Amazon rain forest to how Vermont has been marketed as the ideal rural place, this collection looks at what the countryside is, should be, or can be from the perspective of people who are actively involved in such debates. Each contributor examines the underlying tendencies and subsequent policies that separate country from city, developed land from wilderness, and human activity from natural processes. The editors argue in their introduction that these dualistic categories limit our ability to think about environmental and rural problems and hamper our ability to formulate practical, realistic, and just solutions.This book's interpretive approach to the natural world explores why people make artificial distinctions between nature and culture, and how people can create new forms of sustainable development in terms of real problems and real places. E.Melanie DuPuis is Economic Development Policy Analyst covering environmental policy at the New York State Department of Economic Development. Peter Vandergeest is Senior Fellow on the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, and Assistant Professor of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria. What does it mean to save nature and rural life? Do people know what they are trying to save and what they mean by'save'? As the answers to these questions become more and more unclear, so, too do the concepts of'environment,''wilderness,'and'country.'From the abuse of the Amazon rain forest to how Vermont has been marketed as the ideal rural place, this collection looks at what the countryside is, should be, or can be from the perspective of people who are actively involved in such debates. Each contributor examines the underlying tendencies–and subsequent policies–that separate country from city, developed land from wilderness, and human activity from natural processes. The editors argue in their introduction that these dualistic categories limit our ability to think about environmental and rural problems and hamper our ability to formulate practical, realistic, and just solutions. This book's interpretive approach to the natural world explores why people make artificial distinctions between nature and culture, and how people can create new forms of sustainable development in terms of real problems and real places. In the series Conflicts in Urban and Regional Development, edited by John R. Logan and Todd Swanstrom. Contents......Page 6 List of Tables, Figures, and Illustrations......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 1 Introduction......Page 14 Part I Modernization and Marginalization......Page 40 2 Stone Age New England: A Geology of Morals......Page 42 3 The Farm as Firm: Rhetoric and the Remanufacturing of Basque Agrarian Production......Page 78 Part II People In and Out of Nature......Page 110 4 In the Name of Nature: Ecology, Marginality, and Rural Land Use Planning During the New Deal ......Page 112 5 "Reserving" Value: Conservation Ideology and State Protection of Resources......Page 148 6 Native Amazonians and the Making of the Amazon Wilderness: From Discourse of Riches and Sloth to Underdevelopment......Page 179 7 Reverence Is Not Enough: Ecological Marxism and Indian Adivasis......Page 217 8 Caribbean Environmentalism: An Ambiguous Discourse......Page 238 Part III Constructing Rurality......Page 270 9 Consuming Images: Making and Marketing Vermont as Distinctive Rural Place......Page 272 10 Real Villages: National Narratives of Rural Development......Page 292 11 Gendered Memory: Constructions of Rurality Among Mexican Transnational Migrants......Page 316 About the Contributors......Page 346 Index......Page 348 Introduction / Peter Vandergeest, E. Melanie Dupuis -- Part I: Modernization And Marginalization -- Stone Age New England: A Geology Of Morals / Michael M. Bell -- The Farm As Firm: Rhetoric And The Remanufacturing Of Basque Agrarian Production / Peter Leigh Taylor -- Part Ii: People In And Out Of Nature -- In The Name Of Nature: Ecology Marginality, And Rural Land Use Planning During The New Deal / E. Melanie Dupuis -- Reserving Value: Conservation Ideology And State Protection Of Resources / Nancy Lee Peluso -- Native Amazonians And The Making Of The Amazon Wilderness: From Discourse Of Riches And Slot To Underdevelopment / William H. Fisher -- Reverence Is Not Enough: Ecological Marxism And Indian Adivasis / Amiota Baviskar -- Caribbean Environmentalism: An Ambiguous Discourse / Barbara Deutsch Lynch -- Part Ii: Constructing Rurality -- Consuming Images: Making And Marketing Vermont As Distinctive Rural Place / C. Clare Hinrichs -- Real Villages: National Narratives Of Rural Development / Peter Vandergeest -- Gendered Memory: Constructions Of Rurality Among Mexican Transnational Migrants / Luin Goldring. Edited By E. Melanie Dupuis And Peter Vandergeest. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. From the abuse of the Amazon rain forest to how Vermont has been marketed as the ideal rural place, this title looks at what the countryside is, and should be. It examines the underlying tendencies and subsequent policies that separate country from city, developed land from wilderness, and human activity from natural processes.